With each new group of students I like to do a guided self-portrait exercise. The class involves the students observing their own faces in the mirror and following my instructions until their portraits are complete. The exercise allows me to explain the proportional tricks with each facial feature and demonstrate on the board, the common mistakes people make when trying to draw themselves realistically.
Some of these mistake include:
1. Eyes far too big without enough attention to the eye-lids and creases surrounding the eyes. Once students take their time to look at the unique lines that create their expressions they will begin to see a resemblance. Some of the eyes in the examples below are still a bit big but a huge improvement from the originals.
2. Drawing every little hair and eyelash (that you can't really see when you look at yourself in the mirror). I encouraged the students to sketch tonal areas for their hair. I also encouraged the students to focus on the movement of their hair and how it falls around their face. Drawing consistent strands will make drawings look like cartoons rather than realistic observations.
3. Big, round nostrils. While some people look like they have permanently flaired nostrils, it is quite uncommon! Once I taught the students how to create the form of their noses using shadows and highlights, their faces began to look more three-dimensional.
Overall the activity took just under 2 hours with a break half way through. Next lesson we will be adding final details and tonal backgrounds.
Please excuse terrible lighting of photos!
